Wireless check-row corn-planter.



nu. 678,206.- Pamm my 9, 19m.

A.|.. VAN noozEn. WIBELESSCHECK RDW GUBN PLANTER.

(Appli'nam med me. a1, 1900,)

3 Shaets$haet 2,

(un Model.)

A. L. VAN Hoozsn. WIRELESS CHECK 310W BURN PLANTER.

Patented lulv 9, 190|.

(Application filed Dec. 31, 1900.) v (llo Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

Al'bertL. Wan/Hoozeh' ru: ucmms vanas en, momumo., wMmoToN, n. c.

UNITED "STATES" EPATENT OFFICE( ALBERT LUTHER VAN HoozER, 0E MARTINsvILLE, MISSOURI.

WIRELESS `CHECK-ROW lCORN-PLANTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters'latelit N o. 678,206, dated July 9, 1901. Application led December 31,'1'90. Serial No. 41,737. (No model.)

.To @ZZ whom tfmay concern:

Be it known thatl, ALBERT LUTHER VAN HOOZER, a citizen'of the United States, Vre'- siding at Martinsville, in the county of Harrison and State of Missouri, have inventeda new and useful Wireless Check-Row Device for Corn-Planters, of which the following is a specification. p

This invention relates to check-row cornplanters.

One of the principal objects of the present invention is to provide a device for checking groundwhich is operable independently of any check-line by devices carried on the machinein its progress across the field and which ris so constructed as to form an attachment for lordinary seeders and planters, so that the checking device may be manufactured separately and readily applied to seeders and planters already in use, including those equipped with the ordinary check-row devices operable by means of a check-line stretched across the iield.

In connection with the checking device hereinafter described I employ novel means for quickly setting the marker and seed-feeding devices, so that the driver may at any time adjust the marker and correspondingly adjust the seed-droppers, so as to properly line up the hills. The detailed objects and advantages of the invention will appear more fully in the course of the subjoined description.

The invention consists in a check rowplanter attachment embodying certain novel features and details of construction and arrangement of parts, as hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the drawings, and incorporated in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a seeder and planter, showing the improved attachment applied thereto and in readiness for use. Fig. 2l is a vertical longitudinal sectionthrough the same. Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section taken just in rear of the shaft on which the marker is mounted. Fig. 4t is an enlarged detail perspective view showing the trip-levers and the manner of mounting, limiting, and springactuating the same.

Similar numerals of reference designate corresponding drawings'.

The invention comprises, essentially, a marking rim or disk 1, which is mounted for rotation upon a shaft 2, journaled in bearings 3, 4, and 5, the bearings 3 and 5 being connected by the end portions of a pair of arms or brackets 6, bolted or otherwise secured at their opposite ends, as at 7, to the main cross-bar 8, arranged near the front of the machine and forming a permanent part of a seeder or planter of well-known type. The intermediate bearing 4 is carried by the upper endof the inclined post or brace 9, secured at its lower end to one of the legs, boots, orconducting-tubes lO of the machine. The shaft 2 extends transversely of the machine or at right angles to the line of draft and parallel with the main axle 11 and is provided atits inner end With a setting-Wheel 12, the periphery of which is notched or toothed, adapting it to be engaged by a latch 13, carried by a thumb-latch setting-lever 14: and normally held out of engagement with the Wheel 12 by means of the spring 15 encircling the latch-operating rod or stem 16,

parts in all the figures of the .which connects with the thumb-latch 17 at the free end ofthe lever, as clearly shown in Figs. l and 2.

The marking rim or disk is provided at intervals With markers 18, having pointed or sharpened outer edges 19 and longitudinallyslotted shanks' 20, which receive one or more set-screws 21, which pass through the slots 20 into the rim or disk, thus providing for the adjustment of the' markers in radial directions, so as to adapt the marking device to hard or soft soils, it being desirable to decrease the depth of penetration of the markers when operating in hard soil and increase their depth of penetration when operating in soft soil. The rim or disk l is further provided at like intervals with lateral projections 22 on its inner side, said projections constituting cams for imparting motion to the seed-dropping devices hereinafter described. Thecams 22 are so arranged With respect to each other and the markers that they are venabled Lto trip the seed-droppers at the same moment that the markers are indenting the soil.

The inner bracket or arm 7 is reduced in- ICO termediate its ends to form a fulerum or fixed shaft 23, upon which the seed-dropping triplever 24 is mounted. The lever 24 is fulcrumed intermediate its ends on the shaft 23, and its longer arm is provided at the eX- tremity with a segmentally-shaped runner or cam 25, adapted to coperate with the cams 22 successively as the marker rim or disk 1 revolves in contact with the ground. The shorter arm 24' of the lever 24 extends below the fulcrum or shaft 23, where it is provided with a cross-head 26, the object of which will hereinafter appear. In order to limit and steady the rocking movements of the trip-lever 24, I provide a cage 27, comprising an upper rectangular frame 23 and downwardlyconverging arms or legs 29, connected at their extremities to the fixed shaft or fulcrum 23, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 4. The lever is also provided with an extension 30, substantially L-shaped and having one branch connected directly to the lever 24 proper, while the other branch is provided with a bearing 3l, encircling the fulcrum or shaft 23. The trip-lever 24 is normally held in the direction of the marker rim or disk by means of one or more springs 32, coiled around the shaft or fulcrum 23 and having one end connected to the shaft, while the opposite end is connected to the lever 24 or the extension 30 thereof, said spring exerting its tension to hold the lever in the position in Fig. 4 and with the run ner25 held against the marker rim or disk. The cage 27, by reason of its shape, serves to limit and steady the vibratory movements of the trip-lever in both directions. Extending laterally from the bracket 7 or from the fulcrum portion 23 thereof is a stop 33, which extends across the path of the heel extension 34 of the marker-setting lever 14, so that when said lever 14 is released and dropped to its normal carrying position the said lever will rest in contact with the lower surface of the stop 33, thus preventing it from falling and bearing against the rotating main axle 11 of the machine.

The machine is equipped with the usual runners or furrow-openers 35 and boots 36, and the boots are provided at suitable points with gates 37 for arresting the supply of seed gravitating from the superimposed seedboxes 38. Each of the gates 37 is mounted upon a rock-shaft 3S), which is provided with a crank-arm 40, from one of which a link 41 extends to the cross-head 26, hereinabove described. The operating-link for one gate is attached to one end of the cross-head 26, while the operating-link 47 of the other gate is attached to the opposite end of the crosshcad, as clearly shown in Fig. 3. The link 47 connects at its outer end with one arm of a bell-crank 48, the other arm of which is connected by a short link 49 with the crank 40 of the adjacent gate 37. The gates are so mounted and arranged that when the triplever is in its outward position said gates are closed, thus shutting off the supply of seed.

When, however, the trip-lever is rocked inward by the action of the cams on the markerdisk, the cross-head 26, operating in connection with the connecting-links 41 and 47, serves to rock the gates into a position which will allow the seed supported therebyto drop through the boots and be deposited in their respective furrows. The spring 32, which returns the trip-lever to its normal position, also operates to close the gates 37 and prevent the dropping of the seed atinopportune moments.

For the purpose of illustrating the present invention I have shown the same applied to an ordinary seed-planter, in which the ordinary seedboxes 38 are employed, in connection with which any suitable seed-feeding devices may be employed, operated by a seedshaft 42, having a clutch 43 and foot-lever 44, by means of which the clutch may be shifted and the seed-shaft and seed-feeding devices thrown into or out of operation, the seed-shaft being shown as driven by sprocket-gearing 45, connected with the main driving-shaft 11, on which are mounted carrying and covering wheels 4G. Other parts of the machine not hereinabove particularly described may be constructed and arranged in any usual or preferred manner.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that I have provided a very simple, cheap, and efficient marking and seed-dropping attachment for seeders and planters and that the same may be readily applied to the common form of such machines in a very short space of time, thus doing away altogether with the check-line and operating devices incident to the use of such a line. The marker performs its work as such simultaneously with the tripping of the gates which uphold the seed, so that the operator knows exactly where the hills are being made. The lining up of the rows is greatly facilitated by means of the setting devices hereinabove described, the driver having merely to grasp the setting-lever 14, press the thumb-latch 17, thus throwing the latch into engagement with the setting-Wheel12, whereupon he may turn the marker-rim to any desired degree until one of the markers registers with one of the marks made in the previous row. The operator then releases the thumb-latch and the setting-lever until the same is caught and `held by the limiting-stop 33 referred to.

From the foregoing it is thought that the construction, operation, and many advantages of the herein-described check-row cornplanter will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art without further description, and it will be understoodthat various changes in the form, proportion, and minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is

IOO

IIO

1. A rotary marker comprising a shaft, a marker-rim thereon, and a marker-setting lever journaled on said shaft and provided with means for coupling the lever to the said shaft and uncoupling Ithe same therefrom.

2. A rotary marker comprising a shaft, a marker-rim fast thereoma setting-Wheel fixed 011 said shaft, and a setting-lever on said shaft and provided with means for connecting the lever with the setting-wheel and disconnecting it therefrom.

3. A rotary marker comprising a shaft, a marker-rim fast thereon, a setting-wheel fast "on said shaft, and a thumb-latch lever provided with means adapted to engage directly with the setting-Wheel, but normally disconnected therefrom.

4. The combination with a traction markerrim and means for setting the same, a boot, and seed-dropping devices coacting with the boot, of cam projections fast on the rim at one side thereof, a trip-lever actuated by said projections and adapted to swing transversely of the machine, and operating connections between the lever and the lower seed-dropping devices.

The combination with a traction markerrim, a boot, and seed-dropping devices coacting with the boot, of a trip-lever operatively associated with the rim and mounted to swing transversely of the machine-frame, a crosshead on said lever, and a plurality of operating connections interposed between said crosshead and the lower seed-dropping devices.

6. The combination with a traction markerrim, a boot, and seed-dropping devices coacting with the boot, of a trip-lever actuated directly by the marker-rim, connections between said lever and the lower seed-dropping devices, and means in the path of said lever for limiting the vibratory movements thereof.

7. The combination with a traction markerrim, a boot, and seed-dropping devices coacting with the boot, of a trip-lever actuated directly by the marker-rim, connections being with the boot, of a trip-lever actuated directly by the marker-rim, connections between one end of said lever and the lower seeddropping devices, and a spring acting directly on said lever for holding the opposite end thereof in engagement with the markerarm.

9. The combination with a traction markerrim, and seed-dropping devices, of a trip-leveractuated by the marker-rim, connections between said lever and the seed-dropping devices, a lever extension, a stationary shaft upon which lthe lever and its extension are f ulcrumed, and means associated with the lever and its extension for limiting the movements of the lever in opposite directions.`

10. The combination with a traction markerrim, and seed-dropping devices, of a trip-lever actuated by said rim, connections between the lever and the lower seed-dropping devices, a lateral extension on said lever, and,

a cage embracing the lever and its extension for limiting the movements of the lever in opa posite directions.

1l. The combination with atraction markerL rim, 'and seed-dropping devices, of cam projections on the rim, a trip-lever provided with a rim-engaging runner adapted to cooperate with said cam projections, and connections between the lever and the lower seeddropping devices.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

ALBERT LUTHER VAN HOOZER.

Witnesses:

A. C. REYNOLDS, W. M. WILsoN. 

